


Four Times Lucky

by celeste9



Category: Primeval
Genre: Gen, Inspired by Art, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-03
Updated: 2014-06-03
Packaged: 2018-02-03 08:09:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1737494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celeste9/pseuds/celeste9
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emily leaves behind her life with Henry to take her chances through the anomalies.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Four Times Lucky

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Primeval Denial Art Prompt Challenge, using [this lovely art](http://primeval-denial.livejournal.com/4362933.html) from clea2011. She also kindly made me the header. Thank you to clea2011 and deinonychus_1 for beta duty! I have taken some small liberties in terms of what Emily's friend may or may not have actually been able to understand, but it should hopefully not be implausible. For 'speech-deprived' on my bingo card (though it isn't my speech-deprived WIP...).

  
[](http://s362.photobucket.com/user/ceteste9/media/8f17b7a6-53c5-44aa-a119-13a9e964db9a_zpsb0db332f.png.html)   


Emily wasn't entirely certain where she was. The sun was shining and the temperature felt much the same as the London late spring day she had left behind, but the view that greeted her was much, much different.

She was in a forest, trees towering high above her head. She could hear the chirping of birds and the scurrying of small animals around her, the sort of noise she got very little of in the midst of the bustle of London. It was beautiful and peaceful and Emily took a moment to simply stand in place, inhaling the clean air and appreciating the serenity. She had missed this.

Emily decided her first bit of luck was that the anomaly had led her to a place that seemed survivable. She wasn’t in a harsh climate and there was no imminent threat of a creature hoping to make her its dinner.

She took this as a promising sign. Perhaps her decision had been the right one, after all.

Emily had tried to slot herself back into her old life with Henry, she truly had. When she had stepped back through that anomaly, leaving Matt behind, she had been sure she was doing the right thing.

But she couldn’t make it work. After her travels, Emily wasn’t the same person she had been. She had never been quite the demure wife Henry had wanted her to be, and the things she had seen had served only to exacerbate their differences.

She thought she should probably be ashamed for leaving, for breaking her vows. She wasn’t sure how else to explain what she had done other than to say she had run away, and that was a selfish, childish thing to do.

But she wasn’t ashamed. Henry had never treated her as anything but his property and Emily was no one’s property, regardless of what her parents might say. She thought perhaps if her actions could help others, as Matt’s actions would, then she might have been more devoted to doing her duty. As it was, Emily could help only herself, and as she saw it, the only way to do that was to follow her heart.

Emily had had a small bag packed for weeks. She hadn’t much that would be of use, but she had her traveling clothes and her knives and a scattering of items she had acquired along the way, when she had been with Charlotte and the others. It had taken some time for the anomaly to appear but when it had, Emily had gone through without hesitation.

And now here she was.

She didn’t even have a real plan. She had hopes, yes, but no plans. She thought she would try to find the people she had left behind, the remaining members of her tribe, and she thought... She thought she would quite like to see the ARC team again. For now, though, she had only herself. That didn’t seem so bad.

Emily’s second bit of luck was the cave.

She found it not long after she began exploring her surroundings. It offered her shelter from danger and from the elements and would work wonderfully as a place to stay in for as long as she remained in this time. As she walked farther inside, she came to see that it must have been inhabited and then abandoned. It seemed too neglected to still be in use, though Emily supposed it was within the realm of possibility that whoever lived there had gone away on a long hunting trip. There were remnants of the previous occupants, items they had left behind. A few furs, a pile of dry wood, and some tools, including spears Emily thought she could use for fishing. There was a layer of dust and dirt over everything.

She wondered whether the people who had lived here had died, and that was why they had left so much behind. She wondered if it was their bad luck that contributed to her good fortune.

Of course, lingering on that path did no one any good. Emily retrieved what looked like a crude bag made out of animal skin that she thought she might be able to carry water in, as well as one of the spears, and set off to find a water source. She wouldn’t survive long without one.

Emily hadn’t been walking long when she came to the realisation that she was being followed. It wasn’t that she heard a noise, exactly, it was more a feeling she had. In her time on the other side of anomalies, Emily had learned to trust her instincts.

Without tensing or otherwise alerting her pursuer that she sensed anything, Emily touched the knife at her hip and kept moving. She singled out a tree and then ducked around it, unsheathing her knife and spinning to face whoever was behind her.

It was a dark-skinned man, dressed in furs and with long, unkempt hair in tangles to his shoulders. He was sitting in a crouched position as he stared at her, holding a large stick that could likely be used as a club.

He made no move to attack her and Emily had the feeling that he wasn’t planning to, not unless she proved herself a threat.

“Hello,” Emily said, but the man only watched her warily, gripping his stick.

She wasn’t sure how many thousands of years before her time this was, or how early humans would have communicated. No doubt not by speaking any language Emily would understand. Still, she tried to talk to the man.

“My name is Emily. I’ve come through an anomaly. Perhaps you might have seen something like it? The lighted gateways? I don’t suppose you could tell me your name, or where exactly I am.”

The man didn’t so much as grunt at her, though he was tilting his head curiously.

Emily sighed. “This is going to accomplish nothing, I expect.”

He moved closer to her, reminding Emily of an animal gauging its environment. Then he looked to the east, making an unmistakable gesturing motion.

“You want me to come with you?” Emily asked. She made as if to go with him, pointing to where he seemed to want to lead, taking care to keep her movements small and slow so as not to frighten him.

He seemed to understand and started walking, glancing back at Emily every few seconds as if to ensure she was still following.

Emily kept pace with him. She wasn’t sure what he wanted but she knew in her gut it wasn’t to hurt her. She thought her fortune could only improve if she stayed with him, as he doubtless knew better how to navigate this time than she did.

If she was wrong... She had her knives. It would not be the first time she had needed to protect herself.

Emily had never felt the need to fill up silence with chatter, which she supposed was lucky considering her new companion was almost certainly never going to have anything to say to her. They went on in silence and Emily reflected that Connor would have been miserable. She smiled a little to herself.

The man took her to a river. Well, that was fortunate. It was just what Emily had been hoping to find.

He motioned for Emily’s spear.

She hesitated. It was one thing to go with this stranger, but it was quite another to willingly arm him. Of course, he already had his own weapon, and Emily had her knives.

Trusting her instincts, Emily gave him her spear.

Seeming pleased, the man approached the river’s edge. His concentration was completely on the river and, presumably, the fish within it.

Traveling through the anomalies, Emily had learned how to catch her own food. There had been others in the group Emily had been with who tended to take on that particular responsibility, including Ethan, once he had joined them. However, Emily had not always been with Ethan, or with anyone, and in any case, she had never wished to put her survival so solely in someone else’s hands. She knew how to spear fish and she knew how to fashion her own hooks and lines. Still, she watched the man carefully, knowing that he was likely far more skilled than she.

After only a short moment, however, the man twitched, suddenly coming to attention, as if hearing or smelling something beyond Emily’s notice.

Emily knew better than to speak. She gazed around them, wondering what it was he could sense.

The man sprang over to her and grabbed Emily by the arm. Startled, she stared at him. He made a jerking motion with his head and Emily nodded. She went with him, hiding out of sight.

She hadn’t long to wait before Emily saw what the man had wanted to protect her from. A giant cat came padding out of the trees, coming to drink from the river. Emily felt her breath catch. It was enormous, nearly as tall at the shoulder as Emily herself. She had no doubt it could make an easy meal out of her.

Emily held herself as still and silent as possible, barely daring to even breathe. Her companion was almost merely a shadow beside her.

The cat raised its head once, sniffing the air, and Emily feared it had caught their scent. But eventually it moved on, returning the way it had come. Emily felt the breath ease out of her in a whoosh of air, her back sagging against the tree.

They stayed there a few minutes longer, to be certain the creature was truly gone. Then the man moved swiftly back to the river’s edge, resuming his fishing expedition.

Somewhat ashamed at how her heart was still racing, Emily went over to watch again. It wasn’t as though she hadn’t faced frightening situations before. There was just something about seeing that enormous cat and knowing that to it, she was nothing more than prey. She would have fought if it had come to that, she would have drawn her knives, but she wasn’t stupid.

Emily was in its world, and not the other way around.

“Oh!” Emily said, as the man darted in with the spear so quickly she almost missed the movement. He drew the spear out of the water, a fish on the end.

Yes, he could certainly fish better than Emily could.

He handed the fish to her, like a prize. “Thank you,” Emily said seriously, accepting it. She could gut it, at least, while he tried to catch another.

In hardly any time at all, they had a small pile of fresh fish that would serve nicely as dinner. Emily dug a hole to bury the innards in, to hide the smell and avoid attracting predators, even though they wouldn’t be lingering at the river. She dunked her hands in the water to clean them off before filling her skin bag with water.

The man was gazing at her. He still hadn’t made so much as the tiniest of sounds at her.

Suddenly a thought occurred to Emily. “It isn’t that you can’t understand me-- Though I expect that’s true as well. You can’t speak at all, can you? You’re mute.” Emily realised how little she knew about her ancestors. Perhaps the humans of this time hadn’t even the ability for spoken language, perhaps none of them could form words or even sounds. Or perhaps this man was simply mute.

She wished they could speak to one another. She thought she would like him.

“I have to call you something.” Emily pointed to herself. “Emily,” she said, pronouncing carefully. “Emily.” Then she pointed at her companion. “Er… Jonathan? Robert? No…Ned. You look like a Ned to me. I’m sure that’s not your real name, but if it’s all right with you, that’s what I’ll call you. Ned.”

Ned smiled uncertainly at her.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Ned,” Emily said, laughing a little. This was perhaps the oddest introduction she had ever been a part of and yet she found she preferred it to the false courtesies on display by the men of her own time. There was something real about Ned that was lacking in so many of the men Emily had known.

Gathering up the fish, Emily hesitated. “I have a cave, should we return there? Oh, you have no idea what I’m saying.”

But Ned made the same beckoning gesture he had earlier.

“Do you have somewhere to go? Yes, of course you do, what am I thinking? All right, let’s go to your home, Ned. I’m sure it’s more comfortable than mine.” Emily followed him. She hoped she wasn’t making a mistake, that Ned was under the impression she would be his… his mate, or something like that. She hoped it wasn’t wrong to trust him.

He led her towards her own cave, before breaking off and heading more to the south. The entrance was so well-hidden that Emily doubted she would have noticed it on her own, disguised by brush as it was. Ned squeezed through first, pushing branches aside, and Emily trailed in his footsteps.

The inside of the cave was dim, as the fading sunlight didn’t penetrate much through the brush at the entrance. Ned immediately set to starting a small fire, though, which solved that problem.

Emily set the fish down and looked around her. Ned’s cave looked lived-in in a way that the one she had found did not, with furs already spread out to make a small sleeping area. Arranged neatly inside were the tools he used, stone and wood crafted into things like crude axes and spears, and even just simple rocks that probably were used to do nothing more complex than bash things open.

While she explored, Ned started preparing their meal. Emily was only too grateful to leave the cooking to Ned. She was a disastrous cook. Everything she made ended up either blackened and burnt or mostly raw. Sometimes it was black on the outside and raw on the inside, though Emily had no idea how that was even possible.

By the time Ned was done, it smelled wonderful. Emily sat with him and ate gratefully, not minding that she had to pick at the fish with her hands. It was delicious, and she told him so, though he wouldn’t be able to comprehend her meaning.

When they had finished, they both simply sat together. Emily could just make out the first glimmering of the stars high above, outside their shelter.

It was nice here. Open and free and untouched. Emily preferred it in so many ways to the life she had left behind her in London. Here there was no one to tell her how she should behave or who she should be. She had no one to answer to but herself.

“Are you alone?” Emily found herself asking. “Don’t you have any family?”

When Ned of course only stared at her blankly, in frustration Emily started scratching something out in the dirt on the cave floor. She drew a stick figure with long hair and pointed to herself. “Me.” Then she drew another, a little bit apart, and pointed to Ned. “You.” Finally, she drew several more figures gathered around the representation of Ned, and shrugged questioningly. “Family?”

Ned seemed confused, and Emily wondered if even this method of communication was too far beyond his comprehension. Eventually, though, he drew closer to Emily. Hesitantly, he scrubbed out the figures Emily had drawn, leaving the one that was meant to be Ned. Uncertainly, he gazed at his work, his shoulders slumping.

His meaning was unmistakable.

Gently, Emily pressed her hand to his shoulder. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she said, and hoped he would understand what she meant.

He looked at her, his lips curving upwards weakly. Then he pointed to the two remaining figures, the ones of him and Emily, and smiled brighter.

Emily returned his smile, if a tad uncomfortably. She had no desire to be tied to him, as she had been to Henry, and hoped that wasn’t what he wanted. She would hate to have to harm him, if he started to take liberties with her. “We can be friends, Ned,” she said, though obviously he couldn’t understand her words. “But I have to find my other friends. I can’t stay here forever.”

Ned stood up and beckoned Emily back into the cave. He gestured to the furs that she assumed he ordinarily used for his bed.

“Thank you,” Emily said, and settled down. She watched him, wondering if now would be the moment he tried to stake his claim to her, and kept her hand close to her knife.

Ned only smiled at her again, however, and went to sit closer to the fire, as if to keep watch over her through the night.

Emily took a long time falling asleep, watching Ned’s back, but he never so much as turned around to look at her. When she did succumb to sleep, she slept soundly.

-

In the morning, Emily awoke to Ned dumping a pile of small fruits and some nuts in front of her. She blinked at it all, then raised her eyes to Ned.

He looked pleased with himself. He motioned her to eat, miming the act with his hands.

Emily decided Ned probably knew what was safe to eat and hoped that her stomach could handle what his could. She popped a fruit into her mouth and chewed, then swallowed. “It’s delicious,” she said, knowing she sounded surprised.

Luckily, Ned couldn’t exactly be offended by what she said.

After, Emily stretched her arms above her head and tried to work the crick out her neck. It had been a long time since she’d had to sleep on the ground, and her body wasn’t thanking her for it. She stood up to have a walk around, stretching her muscles.

It was another picture-perfect day, the sun shining through a smattering of fluffy clouds. This wouldn’t be a bad place to stay for a while, Emily knew, particularly not with her newfound friend, but it wasn’t where she was meant to be. Emily longed with all her heart to return to the friends she had left behind, her fellow travelers, or perhaps to the ARC team, to Matt, to Abby and Connor and Becker and Jess. All right, and even to Lester, though she suspected he would be just as happy to have her out of his hair for good.

In a perfect world, perhaps Emily could find all of them. She could find her people, and then she could bring them to the ARC, where they could settle and build new lives for themselves, or try to return to their own times if they wished. That would be nice.

“I have to go home,” she said aloud, prompting Ned to look at her. Emily crouched down, thinking to attempt another bout of communication through drawing. She was afraid this might prove far too abstract for Ned, but she had to make the effort.

She tried to draw the anomaly. She wished she had some colors and not just a stick to drag in the dirt. “Have you seen something like this?”

Recognition flashed in Ned’s eyes.

Surprised, Emily attempted to refine the drawing. “You’ve seen this somewhere? Anomaly? Like… like light?” She pointed to the sun. “Light, like that?”

Frantically, Ned nodded and started to pull at Emily’s arm.

Laughing, she said, “All right, all right, I’m coming! Lead the way.”

They travelled swiftly through the woods and the grasslands beyond. Ned clearly knew his way around the landscape and Emily could tell when he took slight detours, as if avoiding certain areas. Hunting grounds, perhaps.

It was a shock when she saw the anomaly. It couldn’t be. How could there be one, just waiting?

This must be her third bit of luck.

No, Emily thought, her eyes going to Ned. Her fourth bit of luck.

“I have to go,” Emily said, suddenly feeling sad. She was sorry to leave Ned alone. Part of her wanted to take him with her, but she knew she couldn’t. “I have to go home, to my friends.”

One last time, Emily drew in the dirt. She drew herself, and she drew her friends. Then she pointed at the anomaly. “My friends might be there,” she said.

Ned’s dark eyes were like deep wells of sadness, but he nodded.

On an impulse, Emily darted forward to press her lips to Ned’s weathered cheek.

Startled, he stared at her, before his face creased into a smile.

Emily raised a hand in farewell and walked through the anomaly. She wondered where she would find herself next, hoping that perhaps she might really be able to see her friends again.

Wherever it was, she had faith that it would be just where she belonged.

**_End_ **


End file.
